Locating that Apparent Disconnect

The current body of work by Stephanie Harvey, a Penn State MFA printmaker, presents a series of cyanotypes that primarily incorporate imagery from old family photographs and superimposed textile-design patterns, in a combined attempt to visually create layers of meaning that not only reflects her family’s extensive history in textiles, but that also enables her to exteriorize deeply embedded emotions and psychological experiences that stem from observations of her grandmother’s illness.

With regard to the viewer’s first general impressions of the work, the dominating monotone color-scheme persistent throughout each of the work, mainly consisting of deep blues and sepias, immediately seem to recreate arbitrary and unfamiliar moments of nostalgia, and a certain dislocation of meaning and memory, all of which ­– on the outside, clearly seem highly subjective and personalized within the psyche of the artist – prove remotely inaccessible for the viewer.  Apart from color, it is rather the very static, impartial and almost generic quality of the representational imagery itself that reinforces the predominant disconnect with the audience. Patterning, in this case – which is the case where the viewer is trying to establish a meaningful connection with the image, and trying to assemble both the patterned-design elements and figurative elements together into some kind of context, a narrative – may not function effectively as a tool. More specifically, the particular layering approach employed by the artist, in this case subtle and sparse, may not integrate well formally in the image to help capture the layers of meaning embedded within.

It is important to note that while the pictorial and formal elements of Stephanie’s work remain static and anchored, there is, however, an overall intentional shift in interpretation and meaning: that of moving away from previously denoted themes of decay, loss of memory and confusion to that of an open expression of acceptance, an ode to the lived experience of someone close, a poetic reminiscence to coup with the circumstance of a personal loss. On a certain level, it is precisely this conceptual shift, this transition that is reflected in the work, which accounts for the apparent disconnect, indirectly manifesting itself from such a transition.  This disconnect, then, is what the artist experiences personally, and it is the same disconnect, albeit on a different level, that the viewer also identifies.

What seems to be consistently unsettling for the viewer in Stephanie’s art, is the permeating sense of withdrawal and an overall absence of a coherent focal point that would help the audience establish a meaningful connection with the work.  Moving to a smaller scale configuration, perhaps, and a more purposeful sense of display, would certainly be steps that would invite the viewer for a closer inspection of the work. The artist must also find ways to create an attuned sense of direction in her work, and maybe, through engaging different approaches, involve the viewer in a more impactful, immediate and meaningful experience.